Tag: Memory

Relationship between statistical learning and working memory in children with and without dyslexia

By Winnie Tam, Centre for University and School Partnership, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Statistical learning (SL) is the ability to recognize and extract patterns from environmental data, such as language structures and sound co-occurrences. Accordingly, SL is crucial for language acquisition and reading skills. Zhou and colleagues studied the relationship between working memory (WM) and SL in children with developmental dyslexia (DD) and their typically developing (TD) peers. This cross-sectional study collected data from 2014 to 2019 and included 651 Grade 1 to Grade 6 Chinese children from Hong Kong, 199 of whom were diagnosed with DD by a clinical or educational psychologist.

The study consisted of two experiments. The first, an artificial orthography experiment, used pseudocharacters with varying predictability levels (high, moderate, low) to evaluate how WM influences distributional SL. Participants studied 30 pseudocharacters during the learning phase and identified whether a pseudocharacter had been shown previously in a testing phase. The findings showed no significant overall difference in working memory’s association with SL between DD and TD children. Notably, the effect of WM on SL was weaker for recognizing moderate-predictable items compared to those of high-predictability or low-predictability. With age, the positive effect of WM on recognition of familiar items (studied) increased in both groups. A negative association between WM and SL was found for unfamiliar items (non-studied), particularly among older children with DD.

The second experiment, a visual triplet learning task, assessed conditional SL using a two-alternative forced-choice format. After studying four triples of cartoons, children were required to identify the more familiar item between a familiar (studied) and an unfamiliar (not studied) triplet. Results indicated that children with DD showed a stronger effect of WM when recognizing sequences displayed as familiar-unfamiliar compared to unfamiliar-familiar items, while no such association was found in TD.

These findings highlight the complexity of the relationship between working memory and statistical learning, which varies according to the characteristics of the items and the specific type of statistical learning involved.

Working memory and word-problem solving trainings, which combination is more effective?

Marta Pellegrini, University of Cagliari, Italy

A study conducted by Lynn and Douglas Fuchs and colleagues looked at the effectiveness of interventions that combine training on working memory (WM) and word-problem solving (WPS). The four interventions were as follows:

Intervention 1 – general training on WM
Intervention 2 – training on WPS without WM training
Intervention 3 – training on WPS with math-specific WM training
Control group – no intervention

General WM training consisted of sessions using verbal and visuospatial modalities, to which the authors added 5 minutes on mathematics practice. The WPS intervention used in the study was Pirate Math that consists of four phases in each session: arithmetic problems, word-problem solving with a tutor, games, and practice. Finally, math-specific WM training was developed by the authors to support students in applying their working memory capacity in mathematics.

A randomized study evaluated the effects of the interventions on academic outcomes of students with math difficulties in second grade. A total of 258 students in 16 schools were randomly assigned to the four conditions: 57 in the control group, 63 in general WM, 60 in WPS, 60 in WPS with math-specific WM. Students worked with the programs for 5 months. Automated Working Memory Assessment (AWMA) was used to measure outcomes related to working memory and two measures to assess WPS and arithmetic.

Results showed significant differences between the WPS group (ES = +0.62) and general WM (ES = +1.22) compared to the control group, while no difference was found for WPS with math-specific WM (ES = +0.30). Effects were significantly larger in arithmetic and on the WPS measure for the three interventions compared to the control group. On arithmetic, the ESs were +0.71, +0.81, +0.64 for the WPS group, WPS with math-specific WM, and general WM, respectively. On the WPS measure, the ESs were +0.45, +0.32, +0.57 for the WPS group, WPS with math-specific WM, and general WM, respectively. The authors concluded that although training on general WM had effects on both working memory and math outcomes, it cannot replace WPS interventions that showed stronger results on math outcomes. Conversely, effects are stronger on working memory when a general WM training is used.

Does exercise improve children’s cognitive performance?

Research published in Frontiers in Psychology looks at the effects of a nine-week program of daily exercise on children’s cognitive performance, aerobic fitness, and physical activity levels.

Vera van den Berg and colleagues conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial in 21 classes in eight Dutch primary schools. A total of 512 children aged 9 to 12 participated. The intervention consisted of daily classroom-based exercise breaks of moderate to vigorous intensity. Each break lasted approximately ten minutes, and children were asked to mimic dance moves from a video. Children in the control group watched 10- to 15-minute information and educational videos related to the body, exercise, and sports.

Before and after the intervention, children were asked to perform four cognitive tasks to measure their cognitive performance in selective attention, inhibition, and memory retrieval. Children’s aerobic fitness was measured with a shuttle run test, and accelerometers were used to measure physical activity throughout the day.

At the end of the nine weeks, the exercise intervention had no effect on children’s cognitive performance or aerobic fitness. Children in the intervention group spent 2.9 minutes more of the school day involved in moderate to vigorous physical activity compared to the children in the control group. The study concludes that daily exercise breaks can be implemented in the classroom in order to promote physical activity during school time, but doesn’t improve children’s cognitive performance.

Math anxiety, working memory, and self-concept

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Jaén, Spain, and published in the British Journal of Educational Psychology looks at the relationship between math anxiety and math performance in primary school children, and also the possible mediating role of working memory and math self-concept.

A total of 167 students in grades 3 and 5 took part in the study. Each student completed a set of questionnaires to assess math anxiety and self-concept as well as their mathematical performance. Working memory was assessed using two backward span tasks. Teachers were also asked to rate each student’s math achievement.

As expected, results showed that students who demonstrated higher levels of anxiety about math tended to have lower scores on math outcomes such as ability, problem‐solving, and teacher‐rated math achievement. However, this relationship was lessened once the effects of working memory and self-concept were considered. The researchers suggest, therefore, that it is worth taking into consideration working memory and self-concept when designing interventions aimed at helping students with math anxiety.